Six-year-old Ellie was in church
With
four-year-old Luke her brother
They
were sitting in the church
Attending
a family wedding together
Luke laughed, sang, and talked out loud
Pulled faces and generally messed about
Finally,
his big sister had had enough
Luke
was spoiling her special day out
"You're not supposed to talk out loud in church."
"Why?” Luke asked “Who's going to stop me?".
Ellie pointed to the back of the church and said,
"Those
two men by the door are hushers see"
I
find it hard to forgive
But
we are taught we must
To
be a good Christian
We
must first forgive others
Before
God can forgive us
But
I find it hard to forgive
I
cannot let go the bitterness
Or
it’s associated baggage
The
betrayal of those I thought friends
The
deceit of family
The
put downs and the knocks
The
adversities and animosities
I
cannot make that commitment to forgive
All
I can do is promise to try
Try
to climb that ladder of forgiveness
One
painful rung at a time
And
if I do succeed
In
becoming a better person
A
more forgiving person
If
I manage to slowly climb the ladder
And
earn Gods forgiveness
I
will only do so with His grace
And
not by some sweaty effort on my part
Three
year old Katie had been learning
The
Lords prayer with her mother each night
She
would repeat each line after her mother
Practicing
and practicing to get it right
Katie’s
mum carefully enunciated each word
Going
over and over each line in detail
Finally,
Katie went solo "Lead us not into temptation"
She
carefully recited "but deliver us some E-mail”
Thank you for the morning
For the new day dawning
Thank you for the dawn chorus
Refreshing and delighting us
Thank you Lord for another day
And for tomorrow if I may
After the christening of his baby brother in church,
All
the way home Jamie sat in the car and cries
His
father asked him over and over what the matter was
And
then still sobbing the boy finally replies
"The
Vicar said he wanted us to be brought up
In
a Christian home, and I want to stay with you guys."
One of the twelve
Bartholomew the Apostle
From
the village of Cana
On
the Sea of Galilee
Witness
of the ascension
Who spread the Gospels
Far
and wide
After
converting Polymius
The
King of Armenia
He
was put to death
By
the Kings brother
Martyred
on the cross
In
Albanopolis in Armenia
Feast
Day August 24th
Master of the universe
Great architect of nature
Builder of the galaxies
Every
facet and feature
Don’t
listen to our silence
Most
benevolent creator
And
think us unworthy
Don’t
condemn us like a traitor
We
are misguided only
That
is just our nature
We
will turn to you again
For
man is a fickle creature
